Short answers, pulled from the story.
Lieutenant General A. S. Ksenofontov commanded the Soviet forces during the invasion of the Kuril Islands. Major General Alexey Gnechko led elements of the Kamchatka Defense Area that supported the operation.
The Soviet Union invaded the Kuril Islands starting on the 18th of August 1945 and completed control by early September 1945. Initial reconnaissance missions began on the 18th of August while major combat operations occurred between the 23rd and the 29th of August.
Soviet forces targeted Iturup, Urup, Kunashir, Shikotan, Matua, Urup, Sibotzu, Taraku-Shima, Uri-Shima, Akiuri, and Suiseto. The northern campaign phase focused heavily on Shumshu where Japanese defenders mounted a stubborn resistance.
Imperial Japan maintained garrisons totaling approximately twenty thousand troops across the island chain. Soviet forces included the 87th Rifle Corps, the 128th Composite Air Division with seventy-eight aircraft, and sixty ships coordinated from the Petropavlovsk base.
Planners initially targeted Hokkaido but redirected forces toward the Kuril Islands due to political considerations and logistical constraints that made an assault on Hokkaido unfeasible for Moscow. This pivot created a new operational objective requiring rapid reorganization of existing units.